never count a crab out until you see the bristleworms...

[Sk8r]

...that's the "fat lady sings" tank-style.

Got a mithrax emerald crab yesterday---last one, poor little battered critter, body a little smaller than a dime, one feeding claw missing, skuzzy, and shocky.

4 pm. Got him home, and he wouldn't even right himself during acclimation. 4:45. Put him in anyway, down in a patch of algae. Salinity matches to .001. He moved a little. Stayed under MH (this crab doesn't like to be evident) all evening until actinics, still won't move. Not good.

10pm, lights out. I figure if there's life left in him he's going to scuttle under the nearby rock in the dark. and I won't know if he's alive or dead for weeks.

5am, ambient light: crab belly up in same spot. Legs in the current, no movement. Is it a molt? Doesn't look like it.
6am. no change, but no bristleworms have appeared, so I reason it's not dead. There are two fat worms in that rock immediately adjacent, and few things smell stronger than dead crab, even a tiny one.
9 am, actinics on. Crab has righted self and is vertical in weed. But nothing moves. no visible activity of gills, nor feeding palps. Nothing. Body is white.
9:15 am. a gill appears. Twitches.
10 am. mh comes on. just the occasional gill-twitch.
12 pm. Feeding palps appear, begin to work, crab is still white, but showing some green. I figure, hey, maybe he was rousted and sold during a molt. This doesn't seem likely viable. But...

3pm. sole feeding claw actually moves.

4pm. I feed tank. some food falls near.
4:15pm. Crab rights self and starts eating algae, then finds food bit. Eats that. Continuing to eat. Still pale.

But this little guy may live. He's sure ahead of where he was yesterday evening.

 

[Tennyson]

wow. Nice job, i dont think I could have kept crab in that bad shape alive as long as u did. keep us updated. it would be awesome if it lived.

good luck.

 

[Sk8r]

Belly up last night. Same spot.
This morning, once lights are on, vertical and occasionally eating.

I'm wondering if my first theory wasn't right and this crab had entered molt before it was caught. He's in a good spot both for observation and for protection, and I'm just going to let him alone and see if he can get through this and actually shed that shell.

 

[Sk8r]

An update: by oversight, I DON"T have an iodine test. I do have an iodine supplement. This is a bad and stupid combo. Never dose what you haven't tested for---
But hearing that iodine is (controversially, to say the least) implicated in molting ease, and being custodian of a very valiant little crab, I thought, well, could it hurt to apply the minimal safe dose.
Within 30 min, every hermit crab in the tank began looking at shells and/or running around madly, 2 lost and distinctive snails came out for the first time in days; and our brave little crab began to move legs that had actually gotten an overcoating of cyano, with bubbles. He is now on his feet, completely turned around from his position of two days, and actively feeding.
I know this may not be the answer for him, and we still could lose him, but after all the to and fro about Does Iodine Matter and possibly It Could Hurt...I at least have an anecdotal application that did good.

 

[Sk8r]

And 10pm the same day---iodine added about 3 hours ago. The crab has been virtually paralyzed since leaving the lfs, only slow movements of the single large feeding claw---occasional twitches from other limbs, but no coordinated locomotion.
And now the rascal has wandered off across the sand about 8 inches from where he started. I hope he doesn't wander into the cave the ywg and pistol shrimp share: he's still not functioning optimally, and is not quick, but so far so good. He's moving and the pistol is currently using the other side of the tank.
I don't know if he'll remain visible in the morning, so I may lose track of him. But I've certainly seen some remarkable improvement from belly-up and listless...

 

[Sk8r]

He didn't show up this morning, which means he traveled a bit more, and hopefully has found a place to hole up and recover. It may be weeks before I know if he's survived. But he deserves to.
Gotta talk to my lfs about their iodine levels, I guess. Their water quality is usually first rate.

 

[renne39]

anything new

 

[Sk8r]

I looked for him this evening, but no show. On the other hand if he is now pursuing a molt, he could be a couple of weeks at it, tucked up, I hope, under a rock somewhere. He certainly walked off under his own power, however weak he may be, and he had eaten a bit.